


Forgive Us Our Trespasses

by puszysty



Series: Cylon!Felix [2]
Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-08-08
Updated: 2009-10-30
Packaged: 2017-10-08 17:02:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 22,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/77650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puszysty/pseuds/puszysty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Felix becomes Galactica's cylon prisoner</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Felix stood staring at the sky, watching as ship after ship disappeared into space, when he heard someone shout at him.

"Felix!"

Felix turned his head in the direction of where the voice had come from. It was Skulls. Felix couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Skulls. The man had been lucky enough to be one of the few who stayed on _Galactica_, and completely missed the horrors of living on this planet.

Skulls ran up to him. "Felix, let's go!"

"No, just leave me here," Felix told him. After all this, there was no way Felix could look the Old Man in the eye now. Besides, there was no place for him on that ship anymore.

"We're not leaving anyone behind!" said Skulls, grabbing Felix's arm. "That includes you. Come on, we've got to hurry."

Felix pulled back, but Skulls' grip wasn't loosening. "Please Hamish, let me go," he begged, tugging back. He could have freed himself, but he probably would have ripped Skulls' arm off in the process. He'd rather just have Skulls think that he wanted to die, than tell him he was a cylon. Now wasn't the time.

But Skulls wouldn't take no for an answer, and yanked Felix forward. He took off running for the raptor, and Felix had no choice but to follow. He thought about making a break for it when the reached the raptor, but Skulls never broke his grip, whipping Felix around front and shoving him in the raptor. Then Skulls jumped in and closed the hatch behind him.

"Buckle in everybody," said Racetrack from the cockpit, "we're going home."

Felix was going back to _Galactica_. He never thought he'd see the ship again, not after New Caprica. He thought he'd be stuck on a base ship for the rest of his life, or end up boxed like Eight. He didn't think he'd be going home. Except, it wasn't his home anymore. Felix didn't know if he even had a home.

"You brought a frakking cylon on board?!"

Felix snapped out of his thoughts. There, sitting next to him, was Colonel Tigh.

Skulls spun towards them in his ECO's chair. "What?"

"I told you to leave me there," said Felix.

With a growl, Colonel Tigh lunged froward and wrapped his hands around Felix's neck. Felix's first instinct was to lock his elbows, roll, and strangle back, like he had learned in basic, or would have if he had been to basic. But to do so would kill Colonel Tigh, so Felix did nothing. Tigh's hands tightened around his neck, and Felix could feel the air being choked out of him.

"Colonel!" ordered Skulls, grabbing Tigh from behind and pulling him from Felix. Felix gasped for air.

"A cylon?" asked Skulls.

"I saw copies of that thing," snarled Tigh, pointing at Felix, "out on the streets, in detention, every day, rubbing it in our faces."

"Well, we can't very well toss him out now. We're already in orbit and don't have enough flight suits for everyone," said Racetrack wryly.

Skulls looked at Tigh, then Felix, then Racetrack. "What are we going to do with him?"

"I suppose we could use another cylon prisoner, now that Sharon's out of the brig," said Racetrack, flipping various switches, not turning back to the people in the hull.

"Sharon's out of the brig?" asked Felix. He'd suspected it would happen some day, once Helo had pestered the Admiral enough. But while the cylons were keeping most of society captive on New Caprica?

"Don't get any ideas," said Racetrack in an icy tone. She never bothered to look away from her console, but from where he was sitting, Felix could see her quaver.

 

The Raptor landed softly, and the lifts hummed as they brought the bird down to the flight deck below. It reminded Felix of his first day on _Galactica_, when he'd arrived to report for duty on the ship, nervous and not knowing what to expect. That memory was real. It was one of the first real memories he had.

Usually horns would be honking directing traffic, but the only sound coming from the deck was the low roar of crowds of people. Felix couldn't see any of them, just the bright flourescent lights of _Galactica_'s hangar deck shining through the window of the raptor. It wasn't the same as having a sky overhead, but somehow, they felt warmer than the sun ever could.

The raptor quietly ground to a halt, and Skulls opened the hatch. The roar became clearer now, and Felix could even pick out the voices of a few people he knew among the hundreds that appeared to be crowded on the hangar deck. "Stay here," Skulls demanded, and jumped off onto the ground. He didn't intend to move. Where could he have gone?

Colonel Tigh stood up, too transfixed at seeing his ship again to notice Felix, and limped out of the raptor. Tigh stood on the wing for a while, and Felix watched as he took it all in. "Permission to come aboard Sir," he heard the Colonel say, indicating that the Admiral was nearby.

Felix didn't see the Admiral, or hear what he said to Tigh, but he did see Racetrack get off the raptor, then heard Adama say, "what do you _mean_ you have a cylon prisoner on board?" Felix swallowed, then stood up and approach the open hatch.

Felix could see Admiral Adama standing at the base of the raptor wing. "Mr. Gaeta," he said. Felix wanted to salute, but to do so would have been an insult.

"Sir, that's our cylon prisoner," said Racetrack, leaning in slightly.

"It's true, Sir," added Tigh. "Ask anyone who was down on new Caprica. We saw copies of that thing every day."

"Guards!" barked Adama. Conversation on the hangar deck died down as it always did when the Admiral gave a sudden order. Everyone had stopped what they were doing to turn their eyes to him. The few people in uniform looked confused. Everyone else looked angry.

Two marines squeezed through the crowd to meet Adama. "Take that thing to the brig," he ordered. Felix held out his arms to accommodate a set of handcuffs. The guards stepped onto the raptor wing, slapped the handcuffs on him, and dragged him down to the hangar floor. One of the guards shoved him forward, directing Felix to start moving. The sea of people parted as they walked, making way for the cylon and the two guards. Hundreds of pairs of eyes silently followed him off the hangar deck and out the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Felix sat in his cell for three days before anyone came by. He hadn't eaten since lunch on the day of the Exodus, aside from a nutrient bar he kept in his coat pocket, for days when work kept him after cafeteria hours. He heard his stomach growl for attention, but tried his best to ignore it. He'd only crave food more if he thought about the hunger. He hadn't slept in three days either.

He knew someone would come eventually, when they remembered he was there. There were a lot of important things to be done first: refueling ships, figuring out who was alive and who was dead, transporting people to their proper ships, tending wounds from the battle, getting people food and clean clothing, reestablishing the government. Appointing a new Officer of the Watch. Felix wasn't a priority, and it wasn't like he was going anywhere until they had time to deal with him.

Felix expected the first person to be down would be Admiral Adama, coming to question him about the occupation. So when the cell door opened up and it was not Admiral Adama who stepped in, but Colonel Tigh, Felix was surprised. Especially so, because the Colonel was not in his uniform, but still in civilian clothes.

It didn't take long to figure out just why Colonel Tigh was there. He stormed across the room and grabbed Felix by the hair, throwing him to the ground. "I'm missing something! I lost it in detention and I'd hoped you could tell me where it was," sneered Colonel Tigh, practically spitting in Felix's face. "So how about it, cylon, do you know where my eye is?"

Felix dared at that moment to look up from the floor. Colonel Tigh struck Felix across the face with the back of his hand. Felix hit the floor again, his cheek stinging from the blow.

"Get up, cylon," Tigh demanded. "Get up and take it like a man."

Felix picked himself off the floor. Before he could rise to his knees, Tigh struck him across the face again.

"Oh that's right," Tigh sneered. "You're not a man. You're just a machine." Tigh yanked him onto his feet and in one quick motion, threw him against the cell wall. His back hit the metal with a thud, so hard he thought his circuitry might snap. Tigh then knelt down on the floor and grabbed Felix's hair again, bringing his head up face to face with the Colonel. "Don't think the Old Man is going to let you get away with what you've done. You better hope there's a resurrection ship nearby, because it's out the airlock for you." The Colonel slammed him to the floor face first and walked out the cell door.

Felix rubbed his cheek. It stung like hell, but at least it wasn't bleeding. To be honest, he deserved that. If he'd gone to break people out of detention himself, instead of trusting Eight, maybe Colonel Tigh wouldn't have lost his eye. Felix didn't blame Tigh for striking him a few times. Tigh had every right to be angry with him.

Felix had the feeling this wasn't the last he'd see of the Colonel. Not unless he got the airlock first, anyway.

 

The next day, Felix was lying in bed staring at the ceiling, which was all he could bring himself to do anyway, when the door clanged open. Felix didn't move. The guard hadn't made an announcement, so he figured it was Colonel Tigh coming to vent his anger again. He didn't know if the Colonel wanted him passive again, so he waited for the man's orders.

"Well, I wasn't sure I'd heard right when the Colonel told me, so I had to come check it out for myself." That was not Colonel Tigh. Felix sat up in the bed.

"Felix Gaeta is a cylon." Starbuck. She looked infuriated.

"Of course, you're not Felix Gaeta, are you? You're just some copy." Felix didn't bother to correct her. It would only have pissed her off more. "Colonel Tigh was right," she said, laughing sardonically. "This is where they're keeping the biggest traitor in the fleet." Felix couldn't argue with that. He was the biggest traitor in the fleet, and he'd spent months trying to atone for it. He had, but no one on this ship knew that. They probably never would either, if he was about to be tossed out an airlock.

As she stomped towards him, Felix knew what was coming. He braced himself and was able to catch himself before he hit the floor.

"Do you know what happened to me on New Caprica?" she asked, leaning in within inches of him. Felix shook his head. He'd never seen her name on the detention lists, so he'd always assumed she was just living in the settlement and probably had joined the resistance.

Starbuck grabbed him by the back of the neck, holding him there as she spat in his ear. "One of the Leobens had me locked in an apartment, where I had to live with him, and pretend I loved him, for four months. Did you know what your friend was doing? Did you put him up to it?"

Felix shook his head again. He'd heard whispers on New Caprica about a Two and his "crazy experiment". He had no idea that experiment involved Starbuck, or any other human for that matter. For her to think Felix would ever put anyone up to that…

"Say something!" she screamed. Starbuck kicked him, hard, in the stomach. Felix groaned. "Come on cylon," she spat down at him, "tell me all about it. Tell me all about what you did." She drew her boot back and kicked him again, right in the ribcage. Felix cried out at the pain. Starbuck didn't kick him a third time, just stood there seething. Felix looked up at her. She looked like she was about to cry. Felix had never seen Starbuck cry. Ever.

Starbuck left the room without another word. Felix watched her leave, clutching his ribcage and wondering exctly what had gone on with that Two to turn Starbuck into someone he barely recognized. Angry was not a new emotion for Starbuck, but the look of pure dread that had flashed across her face before she left was. He thought he'd seen the worst of what happened on New Caprica. Maybe not.


	3. Chapter 3

Felix's ribs burned. He needed some ice, or some aspirin, or something, but it didn't look as if he'd be getting any. He'd spent all night in the same position, trying not to let anything bump into the large bruises on his torso. Every once in a while, the guard would peer in and see Felix rubbing his side, but he didn't react to it.

The door to his cell opened again and Felix took his hands off his side. He looked up to see who his assailant would be this time. Felix was lucky today. It wasn't anyone here to exact revenge on him, it was Cottle with a bag of medical supplies. Felix sighed in relief.

"They sent me here to check you out," stated Cottle, dropping the bag on the cot next to Felix.

Felix nodded. Cottle began inspecting him, just like any doctor's appointment, checking his pulse and his blood pressure, looking in his eyes, in his ears, and down his throat. Then Cottle lifted up his shirt.

"What the frak happened to you?" he asked, eyeing the large bruises on Felix's stomach and ribs.

"Well, uh…" said Felix. He doubted anyone would be disciplined for beating up a cylon, but he didn't want to say anything just in case. The fleet needed their XO and best pilot, especially if the cylons were going to start coming after them again.

"I figured you were a glutton for punishment when you kept showing up in my tent, but this about proves it," said Cottle.

Cottle let Felix's shirt fall and started rifling through his bag. As Felix watched him trying to find something, he realized something. Cottle wasn't smoking anything. Felix's glance trailed up from the bag. Cottle's arms were just as bruised as Felix's ribs were. The doctor usually wore a jaded look on his face, but today it was different. More genuinely downtrodden than usual.

"You look like shit," said Felix.

Cottle stopped rifling around in his face and looked at Felix. "You'd look like shit too, if you almost got thrown out an airlock," he said, and went back to rifling through his bag.

"What?" Felix asked, shocked. Who in their right mind would want to throw a doctor out an airlock? The fleet was in desperate shortage of doctors already, and who knows how many they'd lost on New Caprica. Killing a doctor would be like signing their own death warrants.

"Supposedly guilty of crimes against humanity. Well, I took the hippocratic oath, and that means treating everybody, humans and cylons. At least one of them had the good sense not to push the button to send me out that airlock."

"Who?" asked Felix.

"Bunch of angry hooligans," said Cottle, though by the look on his face, he knew every one of those "hooligans". Felix wasn't sure what to say. How did anyone comfort a man like Cottle?

Cottle pulled what he had been looking for out of his bag and handed it to Felix. "Here. Won't help much, but it should help ease the sting."

"Thanks," said Felix, taking the bottle of icy hot lotion. "Any chance I could get something to eat too? I haven't eaten in five days."

"Five days?" asked Cottle, arching an eyebrow.

"I think they've forgotten about me," stated Felix.

"They haven't forgotten about you, trust me. I'll send you down something." Cottle zipped up his bag, stood up, and headed for the cell door.

"Thanks," replied Felix. "I really appreciate it."

"And just so you know, they're sending down someone to question you. You're going to want to give them a lot of information if you want to stay alive."

A number of questions ran through Felix's mind. _ What do they want to know? What could I possibly tell them that they don't already know? Do I mention the dead drop?_ There was only one, however, that he thought Cottle might have the answer to. It was perhaps the most important question of all. "Who are they sending?"

"I don't know son. I'm just the doctor."

 

Felix hadn't realized just how hungry he was. Mess hall food had never tasted so good in his life. Felix scarfed down every bit of it, even the beans, which he usually hated because they were so soggy. It didn't matter, because it was food, and five days was a long time to go without.

As he contemplated actually licking the plate clean- there was still bits left he couldn't get with his fork, but he wasn't sure he wanted to test the quality of the ship dishwashing system- he heard the cell door open. "Good luck Sir," said one of the marines. "He seems pretty docile, but I'd be careful just in case." Great. The food had been the carrot, a rather delicious one at that, now came the stick. Felix wasn't sure what to expect. He hadn't been privy to the Admiral's list of interrogation techniques, and he hadn't even gone to question Sharon until well after she'd proven to be cooperative. However, when Felix thought of what techniques the cylons might have, and what might have been used on him if they'd found out about him helping the resistance, it couldn't be anywhere near as bad.

The man who entered the room wasn't anyone Felix recognized. That was strange, since Felix had known the faces of everyone on _Galactica_ before he alit for New Caprica. That meant this man was either a new enlistee, or…

The man turned sideways, nodding to the marine to shut the door, and allowing Felix to see the patch on his jacket. Felix froze. _Pegasus_.

Felix set down the food tray and brought his knees to his chest. 'No. No, no, no,' Felix thought as he curled into a ball, pulling his knees in tighter. Felix knew what _Pegasus_ officers did to cylons. He'd heard all about the cylon the ship had been keeping locked up. He'd read the report after Cain had died. Every gruesome detail of it. And now Admiral Adama was sending a _Pegasus_ officer to question him.

Felix closed his eyes and prepared for the worst.


	4. Chapter 4

"What are you doing?" asked the officer.

"Please don't," said Felix, barely above a whisper.

"Don't what?" His eyes were still closed, but he could hear the officer's footsteps as he approached.

"I'll tell you anything, anything at all, just please, don't touch me. Please," Felix begged.

He heard the officer sigh. Felix opened his eyelids slightly and saw the man pick up the food tray, set it on the floor, and sit down on the cot where the tray had been. Felix opened his eyes the rest of the way, still keeping his knees pressed closely to his chest.

"There are a lot of things that you have to do in war that you wouldn't do otherwise. However, there are some lines that should never be crossed."

Felix blinked and loosened the grip on his knees.

"Look, I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here because I didn't serve on _Galactica_ and I wasn't on New Caprica."

"In other words," said Felix, "you're basically the only one who doesn't want me dead?"

"Basically," he said.

The officer looked down at his hands, lacing his fingers together. Was he actually _nervous_? Well, if Gina had killed as many humans as the report stated, he probably had reason to be. Even though Felix was not going to risk killing anyone. Felix still wasn't sure what this man would do eventually, so he didn't want to let his guard down all the way, but this man didn't look like he was going to violate him right now, or even assault him like Tigh and Starbuck had, so Felix let himself relax a little.

"So," said Felix, letting out a deep breath. "What do you want to know?"

The man cleared his throat. "I'm here to ascertain how much of Lieutenant Gaeta's memories you've been equipped with."

Well, at least they had started easy. "I _am_ Lieutenant Gaeta."

 

It wasn't a surprise to see Admiral Adama come down to his cell a short time later. Felix had stood up as soon as he entered the room, even though he didn't technically have to. It was just second nature for him. Once again, he held back from saluting.

Adama had with him Laura Roslin and Sharon. It was a relief to see Sharon there, even though he knew she was only there to affirm his identity as Lieutenant Gaeta. Somehow, having another cylon in the room made facing up to Adama and Roslin a lot easier. Though maybe not just another cylon, but Sharon specifically. She was a cylon that had not only decided to pledge her loyalty to the humans like he had, but one that the humans had learned to trust in return. It surprised him, but also gave him great hope, to see her walk in wearing a colonial uniform.

"That's definitely Lieutenant Gaeta," she said.

Adama's eyes flared up. He had been angry when he'd first walked in the room, but it appeared his anger had just been validated. "Toss that thing out the airlock!" he boomed.

"No," cut in Roslin, calmly and with an unwavering assurance that Felix had seen her carry as president. "From what I understand, this cylon had access to every computer on this ship. If we send it back to the cylons, we'd put this entire fleet in very grave danger. I understand your anger, Admiral, I don't know what I would do if I found out that, gods forbid, Tory was a cylon, but we simply cannot airlock this cylon. Unless we're able to destroy cylon resurrection for good, it must remain alive."

Felix could see why this woman was able to function as president. She made a damn good one too, especially compared to Baltar. He imagined things would have been a lot different if she had still been president when the cylons arrived. Then of course, that's just what Felix had been programmed to prevent.

Adama looked like he didn't want to agree with her, but had to anyway. Felix knew even without looking that Adama hated his guts, because there were only two kinds of people Adama couldn't live with: cylons and those who betrayed their oath to the military. Felix had turned out to be both. But even more than he hated cylons and traitors, Adama loved his ship, and he was going to have to let Felix live in order to save it.

"What I would like to know," continued Roslin, speaking now to Felix instead of Adama, "is if the cylons have in any way been able to access what you know. Have you told them anything? Did you ever download on New Caprica?"

_Frak._ He had downloaded, on the very first day of the occupation. Felix had been so fraught by the feeling of being plugged in like an appliance and being immersed in sticky goo that he hadn't even thought about how his downloading had compromised _Galactica_. Maybe that was why Cavil had shot him, not to help him adjust. If only he hadn't panicked when he discovered what he was.

"I…I did. Download. Once," stammered Felix.

Adama's head snapped towards the guard. "Private," he barked at the marine. "Get on the wireless, tell Captain Agathon to order a complete overhaul of _Galactica_'s computer systems. All of them. Right now."

"Aye, Sir," the marine responded with a salute, then took off for the nearest intercom line.

"Admiral," interjected Sharon. "We can't presume to know how much of his memory the cylons accessed. When I was down there, the cylons were barely managing to keep everything running. They might not have even had the time to sift through Lieu- this one's memories. The President's right Sir. We have to keep him here."

Adama was clearly not happy with the decision that had been made for him. "Madame President, I'm going to continue to interrogate this thing. I want to know everything it knows."

"I agree," said Roslin.

Adama turned back to Felix, and glared like he was shooting daggers. "I intend to use any means necessary."

Adama stormed out of the room, with Roslin and Sharon close behind. The door slammed shut and Felix was left in the room alone, with the knowledge that he'd endangered the fleet more than he'd previously realized.


	5. Chapter 5

"How the frak are you still alive?" asked Colonel Tigh as he stormed in the door. Just like Felix had predicted, the Colonel was back. He was still in civilian clothes, which was strange. It had been a week, Felix had expected the Colonel to be back on duty by now.

Tigh stormed right up to Felix's cot and leaned over him. "Wellll, maybe the Old Man's still got a soft spot for you, but he wasn't down on that fraaaaak of a planet." His breath smelled strongly of ambrosia. It was unspoken policy aboard _Galactica_ to stay away from the Colonel when he'd been drinking, but right now, Felix didn't have a choice. "You think you can just waltz onto this ship, give a little piece of information here and there, and they're just gonna make things nice and cozy for you? Ohhhh no, cylon, not after everything you and your friends have done. And not while I'm on board this ship."

Felix was prepared to be dragged to the floor again, so the punch to the face came as a surprise, sending him reeling backwards.

"How's it feel like to be the one locked in a cell?" snarled Colonel Tigh. "Maybe I should take your eye out too." Felix's eyes went wide. What the frak had the cylons done to this man? Tigh had always been intimidating, perhaps a bit ruthless, but Felix had never had any reason to be truly afraid of him until now. Felix was pretty sure he wasn't about to lose an eye, but that didn't change the fact that the Colonel was drunk and angry and liable to do anything to get back at Felix as a representative of the cylon race. It wouldn't matter that he hadn't sent Saul to detention or taken his eye. Tigh wanted revenge from the cylons and there just happened to be one right there for him.

Tigh's fist connected with Felix's face again and again, causing his vision to go black. Felix could feel the blood trickle down over his lips. "If the old man doesn't have the guts to airlock you himself, I'll be back to do it myself."

Felix flinched when he heard the cell door slam shut.

 

The _Pegasus_ officer was back to interrogate him. He brought food this time, which Felix was grateful for, since Doc Cottle hadn't been sending any down. It was better for the Doc that way. Still, Felix was hungry, and he would take whatever he could get, even if it came with strings attached.

The officer set the tray down on the floor and slid it across the room. Apparently he wasn't quite so nervous this time. Pork chops and yams today. Even if Felix had to answer questions for hours for it, at least they had brought him one of his favorites. Felix picked up the tray and started eating.

"I skimmed over Cain's logs," said the officer. Felix set down his spork. "The cylon didn't tell us about the resurrection ship until Dr. Baltar gave her food and sat down to talk with her, so I thought maybe I'd start that way." Felix looked intently at the officer to see if he was telling the truth, or if he'd read more into that manual. He looked honest as far as Felix could tell. Though perhaps he was just a good liar.

"Is your nose bleeding?" he asked.

"The air is kind of dry in here," Felix lied, not sure if he wanted to trust the officer enough after having just mentioned Cain. He carefully wiped away some of the dried blood from under his nostrils.

The look on the officer's face told Felix he didn't believe his fib, but the officer decided not to press further. "The Admiral and the President want to know where the cylons are going."

Frak. If they had started easy, they had jumped right to the other side of the spectrum now. Felix didn't have any idea where the cylons had gone. He had never overheard anything mentioned or seen any documents that would indicate where they intended to go after New Caprica. He was sure there had to be a plan B at some point, especially after the resistance attacks started, but it had never been discussed officially. At least, never in front of him.

"I don't know," Felix answered honestly.

The officer sighed. "Look, there are a lot more painful ways to interrogate you, you know. I don't want any of it on my conscience, but there are people who won't think twice when it comes to a cylon. Are you sure you don't know anything?"

"New Caprica was supposed to be permanent," Felix replied. "There was no set plan for 'after'."

"You don't have any guesses?" the officer asked, leaning back against the cell wall and crossing his arms.

"If I had to guess-" Felix started. Felix thought for a moment. He didn't know where the cylons would want to go, but practically… "someplace with resources. New Caprica was slim on some of them. So my best guess is Earth. If it's inhabited like they say, it has to have a good supply of resources."

The officer came off the wall and stood at attention. "Earth?"

"They won't go back to the colonies. Cylons don't like to be reminded of their failures." Five years ago, before he was a sleeper agent and he still actually believed in the cylon god, he remembered thinking that it was impossible to fail. God, after all, was on their side, or so they had been told. So now that they had failed, thanks to Felix's actions, they wouldn't want to be anywhere that reminded them of that. The belief in this one true god was a powerful force for the cylons, he'd learned that from his misjudgment of Eight, and it would simply be easier to ignore their failures than to think they had been wrong about their god.

"How do the cylons know about Earth?" the officer asked.

"Boomer and I were there when Adama gave his speech right after the destruction of the colonies. And considering Baltar and I were the ones who have been plotting the course, they probably know everything that's been mapped out so far," said Felix. He couldn't recall just how far they had gotten in mapping the road to Earth, as it had been well over a year since he'd seen a star chart, but he knew that thankfully, they hadn't gotten far. Even so, it was still more than the fleet would want on the cylons' hands. Felix hoped that whoever was serving as Officer of the Watch now was good with star charts. If not, humanity was screwed.

"The Admiral's not going to like hearing that," said the officer.

"No. He won't," said Felix. He paused a moment, debating what he could say next. He could've apologized, though it hadn't been his fault that the cylons found out what they did, not that they wouldn't have without him anyway. Nor was anyone on _Galactica_ likely to accept an apology for that. It was making Felix uncomfortable just sitting there, so he decided to revert to sarcasm, his tried and true shield for tense situations. "Well, look at it this way. If what they say is true, and you guys make it there first, you should be able to get a few more battlestars to join the fight."

The officer glared at him. "I was joking," said Felix. Adama and Roslin already knew they were in trouble. They didn't need him to tell them that.

"Yeah, Dee mentioned you have a bit of a dry wit. Thanks, that's all I needed for now. The fleet appreciates your cooperation. I'll see you again later."

Oh gods. Dee. Felix hadn't thought of Dee since, well, before the occupation. They'd been best friends aboard _Galactica_. What had happened when she found out what he really was? He had been sure the Admiral would feel the most betrayed out of anyone, and maybe he was on a professional standpoint, but personally? As someone she trusted a lot more than just as an officer?

"How is she?" Felix asked, before the door closed to the cell.

The officer turned back around. "What?"

"Dee. Is she alright?"

The officer didn't answer, just hung his head and shut the door behind him.


	6. Chapter 6

Felix heard the hatch beyond the cell clang open. He didn't move from his cot, figuring it was either Colonel Tigh or the _Pegasus_ officer. He hoped it was the latter. It was depressing to think that being interrogated was the better of his two options.

One minute passed, then two. Yet the door to his cell didn't open. He didn't hear the hatch open again, nor did he see the guard move to address anyone. Felix stood up from his cot to see what was going on. There, right in front of the hatch, stood Dee.

"Dee?" he asked, though he knew she couldn't hear him. He was shocked to see her here. He didn't think she would ever come down, as hurt as she must have been. If he was her, he'd never want to see himself again.

Dee didn't move, didn't say anything. Just stared through the glass at Felix. He could see tears starting to well up in her eyes. Felix walked to the window of his cell and tapped on the glass. "Dee?" he asked again curiously.

Dee pivoted abruptly and spun the wheel on hatch door. He could see her tremble as she opened the hatch. Then she darted out of the room, quickly shutting the hatch behind her, leaving Felix wondering what was happening on the other side.

 

A few hours later, Felix heard the hatch open again. He stood up from the cot to see if Dee was back. She wasn't. Starbuck was.

Felix was still standing when Starbuck entered his cell. She was pissed off, and a little drunk too, as far as Felix could tell. Starbuck marched right up to him, until they were only inches apart. "I just wanna hurt someone," she spat, the pain betraying itself in her eyes.

That pain didn't stay long. In a flash, it morphed into rage, Felix its prime target. "And lucky for me, I've got my very own cylon for that." Starbuck shoved him to the ground, Felix hitting the egde of the cot on the way down. He felt blood start to trickle down his arm. Felix wanted to fight back, the urge rising from his days as an officer who wanted to show her he wasn't a wimp. He could prove that easily now, as he was three times as strong as she was, but he wouldn't. He could tell she needed this, more than he needed to avoid the bruises, if _Galactica_ wanted its best pilot to keep from going crazy in the cockpit. It wasn't like he didn't deserve it for causing the hell she'd gone through. Besides, if he threw her against the glass now, one of two things would happen: the glass would shatter, and the guard would have to use the tranquilizers Felix knew they kept, or he'd send Starbuck to the infirmary.

Maybe later he could figure out how to deprogram pain.

 

Felix was trying to sleep when the _Pegasus_ officer came to interrogate him. Though there wasn't much to do in his cell, Felix was getting really tired of visitors, especially since most of them came to beat the crap out of him. He hoped the officer would think he was asleep and just leave him be, but it was to no avail.

"Hey," said the officer, trying to get his attention.

Felix rolled over and attempted to sit up, though the pain made it a slow process. He had the feeling the man wasn't going to go away any time soon. Felix figured the sooner he talked, the sooner he could try and sleep.

"I- oh my gods, are you alright?" the man asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Felix replied, though he knew the officer wouldn't believe him.

"Bullshit. I'll be right back. Stay there."

Ten minutes later, the officer was back with an ice pack and bandages for the cut on his arm. He didn't send them across the floor like he did the food tray the other day, but came and sat on the cot next to Felix. The officer undid the makeshift bandage Felix had prepared from a torn piece of his shirt and applied the bandages to his arm, then took the ice pack and applied it to the bruise on his face.

"Sorry if that's a little cold," he said. "Tigh and Starbuck have been down here, haven't they?"

"How did you-" Felix started, before he could stop himself.

"They've been causing a lot of trouble for everyone around _Galactica_. Looks like you got the worst of it." Felix winced as the officer moved the ice pack to his likely broken nose. "Sorry," the officer said, pulling the ice pack back. "I wouldn't worry about them anymore. The Admiral let them know he's not going to put up with it and he's keeping a pretty close eye on both of them. I can have the guards keep an extra close eye out just in case, if you think you need the extra assurance."

It wasn't just him? He probably deserved a kicking, if not worse, for what he'd done, but there was no reason to inflict punishment on anyone else. The humans weren't the ones who had caused the occupation, or Starbuck and Tigh's captivity. "What do you mean they've been causing trouble?"

"Harrassing those of us who stayed on duty the last four months. Drinking at all hours in the mess. Upsetting morale. Something with Cottle, I'm not sure what that was about. I didn't know they were beating on you, but I guess it makes sense considering you're a cylon that was on New Caprica. I don't know if you were involved with what happened to them personally…were you?"

"No," Felix said. He thought Tigh and Starbuck had been taking it all out on him, in order to keep it together on duty. Now it seemed as though he took their thrashing for no purpose at all, not if they were inflicting their anger on everyone. And the thing with Cottle? Those two weren't the "hooligans" Cottle had been referring to, were they? Gods, he hoped not.

"That's good to know. The Admiral doesn't need another reason to be angry with you," the officer said.

"Why do you care anything about me?" Felix asked. "I'm a cylon." Sworn enemy of humanity. Worse yet, a skinjob. At least the Centurions they had trusted to want the Colonials dead.

"The way I see it, the better off you are, the more you'll be willing to talk. I'm just doing my duty as an officer."

"Any chance I could get a queen size bed with a down comforter in here, then?" Felix joked, trying to ignore the pain it caused him to smile.

The officer laughed. "Don't push it." The officer stood up to leave, taking the half melted ice pack with him. "I won't ask you anything for now, and I'll have the guards keep a closer eye on who comes here. But I'll probably be back later today, so-" there was a long pause, and Felix wasn't sure what the officer was going to say next. Don't go anywhere, probably, and he'd stopped himself from sounding stupid. Felix, however, was definitely not prepared for what he said next.

"You know, I'm not really sure what to call you. I've heard that cylons refer to themselves by model number, but I haven't heard you use yours…"

"My name is Felix." He wasn't with the cylons anymore, damn if he was going to be called by a number now.

"Alright. Felix. You can call me Lieutenant Hoshi. I'll see if I can get you a cold compress. I can't keep running back here with ice all day." The officer, Lieutenant Hoshi rather, smiled at him, not in a sadistic way, or even something faked for Felix's sake, but one that looked real.

It wouldn't take the lieutenant making Felix comfortable, like he thought was the best approach, to get Felix to talk. He would have told them everything anyway. He wasn't going to explain that to the lieutenant, however. It was nice to have someone care about him again. Even if it was just to garner information, there were a lot worse things Lt. Hoshi could be doing to him to produce the same results. He'd even used his name without any hesitation. It made Felix feel, well, human.


	7. Chapter 7

Neither Tigh nor Starbuck had been back. His only visitor in the last two weeks was Lt. Hoshi, not that he minded those visits so much. The Lieutenant, despite his claims that he was only following orders, was a nice guy, and didn't seem to have any distaste for Felix, at least not overtly. He rarely asked about anything other than what the cylons were doing, and how, and why, on New Caprica, but it was still nice to talk to someone who didn't call him Number Seven.

"Thank you, Felix," Hoshi always said when he left. During the first few visits, his next line would be, "The fleet appreciates your cooperation," though it had since morphed into "I appreciate your cooperation." He always smiled at Felix before he walked out. It hardly even felt like an interrogation.

Felix didn't mention that he'd fed information to the resistance. Lt. Hoshi never asked about it. Perhaps they figured that the cylons hadn't known anything about the intelligence leak, or else the rescue mission wouldn't have been a success. They would've been right, of course, except to the fleet, Felix was no different than any other cylon. The idea that the source of information had been a cylon with colonial allegiance probably never even crossed anyone's mind.

Even if he had wanted to tell the fleet about it, no one would have believed him. He was a cylon, a race noted for their tendency to lie for the sake of manipulation. Before four months ago, Felix's entire life had been such a lie. Besides, the fleet didn't need to know what he'd done to save them. From what Lt. Hoshi indicated, morale was not very good right now, and it would be better for the vitality of the fleet if they believed that the inside source had been human. If the fleet fell apart now, all his work would have been for nothing. No one needed to know.

Now that Tigh and Starbuck weren't coming by to exact revenge on him, things were a lot calmer in his cell. The only downside about not having to worry about when he was going to get his ass kicked again, was that Felix was bored out of his mind. He tried to sleep most of the day, but he'd never required more than seven hours a night, and trying to force himself to sleep any more was proving nearly impossible. He'd already counted the number of tiles on the ceiling and the number of squares in the fencing around the cell windows, and was starting to write computer programs in his head. He didn't know how Sharon had stood it.

Felix was half asleep, mapping out a program to better control the temperature in his cell when he heard something rapping against the cage outside the cell window. Felix opened his eyes and looked at the guard. The guard hadn't moved from his post, and was still facing away from the inside of the cell. Yet the rapping continued. Felix rolled over to the side of the cell where the phone was installed. Sharon was using the phone to tap against the cage fencing.

Felix stood up from the cot and went to go pick up the phone, the irony not escaping him in the process. A little over a year ago, she had been the one locked in here, and he on the other side.

"Hey Felix," she said when he held the phone to his ear.

"Hey," he replied. "You're calling me Felix?"

"You rather I call you something else?"

Felix shook his head. "No, that's fine. I…I prefer it. Actually. It's a lot better than being called Seven."

"I know what you mean," said Sharon. "It's nice being Athena, and not just another Eight. Makes you feel like people care about you, you know? Like a person, and not a thing."

"Exactly." Finally, someone who understood him. Someone else who knew what it was like to be thought of as a machine when she knew she was something more than that. "Athena?" he asked, the use of a new name catching his attention.

"My call sign," she explained. "Maybe someday it'll turn out the same for you."

He doubted that. Sharon hadn't been a member of the fleet when they learned she was a cylon. "I know you're different, Felix," Sharon continued. "Guilt is pretty easy to pick out on a cylon. It's not an emotion they usually display."

Felix looked away and tapped his fingers against the glass. He was afraid her next question was going to be why he felt guilty, and he didn't want to explain it. He knew she was different, that he could trust her, hell, the whole fleet already trusted her, but he couldn't shake the thought that she was cylon and no cylon could know about the dead drop. He wasn't on New Caprica anymore, but apparently a part of his mind still was. So he decided to change the subject.

"Sharon, when you were locked in here, what exactly did you do all day?"

"I worked out a lot," she said. "Otherwise I did a lot of projecting."

"You think I should project? Where?" Felix asked.

"Wherever you want to be the most."

"Where was that for you?"

Sharon smiled. "Caprica." Felix smiled in return. He could have guessed.

"You're really brave, you know that Felix?" said Sharon.

"What do you mean?" asked Felix. He didn't know how sitting here bored all day qualified him as brave. He wasn't under immediate threat of death or being tortured in any form. He just sat here.

"When I came to _Galactica_, I had Helo. You didn't have anyone."

"I was dragged here, Sharon. I didn't choose to come here like you did," said Felix.

"But if you'd had the chance to choose, would you have?"

 

Felix was lying on his cot again. He wanted to try projecting, to picture himself in the place he wanted to be most. When he'd left to become a sleeper, projection hadn't been perfected yet. Daydreaming was as close as they'd gotten. He'd never created scenery in his head before that had ever felt, sounded, and smelled real. He could have tried it on New Caprica, but he hadn't wanted to. He wanted to see what was going on there, to be aware of the suffering. Perhaps that was why the cylons never cared about the humans. They could live in their own vision of New Caprica and simply project away the bad parts.

Felix buried his face in his pillow in disgust. He was never going to be able to project if he kept thinking about New Caprica, and all the things he hated about his race. He'd be doomed to boredom for the rest of his life.

Felix tossed the pillow to the floor and cleared his head. He tried to picture the ocean, the sound of waves rolling in, the heat of the sun on his skin, the smell of the salt from the water. It was serene, but it didn't feel real. He'd never even seen the ocean before. How could he have known what it looked like?

Felix then tried the park. He'd been to the park once, with Dee, on shore leave. A light breeze through their hair, soft green grass under their feet, a picnic laid out before them. The park was one in Picon City, not far from the fleet docking yard. Dee couldn't go home to Sagitarron, so Felix had promised to stay with her on Picon for the week. It rained most of the week, but on the one day it had been nice, they'd gone to the park, watching children play on the playground, reminiscing about their childhoods. Children who were all now dead, and the childhood he'd never had. This didn't feel right either.

Felix closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Felix tried not to think of any particular place, just repeated the phrase "the place I want to be the most" over and over in his mind. It would come to him, he was sure.

Just then, he heard Helo calling for bets and Starbuck threatening to clean everyone out. Dee whispered in his ear the cards of the player next to him, who'd she'd been pretending to take interest in, just so she could help Felix cheat.

Felix opened his eyes. He was in the rec room on _Galactica_. This was the place he wanted to be most. This was home.


	8. Chapter 8

Felix was in the rec room playing Triad with Crashdown, Racetrack, and Boomer. Well, not really. Crashdown was long since dead, and Boomer was likely on a baseship somewhere. But in his projection they were there, laughing and happy. It was as if the world hadn't ended, and if he hadn't turned out to be a cylon. Maybe that was how it happened here. This was his projection, after all.

Felix tried to ignore the nagging feeling that it was pathetic that he should be projecting the very ship that he was currently on. He might be here, but he wasn't a part of this ship anymore. Not in the way he used to be, the way he wanted to be. That was the point of creating this scenario. Not because he thought aluminum tables were more exciting to look at than cell walls.

Felix was in the middle of hand that he was likely to lose when a second Boomer walked in the door. Wait, that wasn't right. Felix blinked away the projection to see Sharon standing outside his cell.

Felix stood up to grab the phone. "You don't come see me in the three weeks since you came to verify my identity and you're back already?" he jibed.

"I've finally gotten Adama to trust me. I didn't want to risk that by coming here too soon." Felix's joking demeanor faded. As much as he would've liked to talk to her sooner, he understood. If he was lucky enough to ever get the Admiral's trust back, he wouldn't want to endanger it.

"He's pretty angry with me, isn't he?" Felix asked.

Sharon looked down at the floor. "I don't know if angry is the right word, Felix. He's angry at me for not telling him you were a cylon. He's angry at Helo for not telling him that I told my husband. You- that's something else entirely."

"You told Helo I was cylon?" It surprised Felix that a man like Helo would have known about a cylon in the fleet and not done anything about it. From the time he spent with Helo, there wasn't any indication that the man had even suspected anything. Their relationship hadn't changed at all while Felix still thought he was human, even after Felix had mustered out.

"Right after not telling him about Cavil. He said I shouldn't be fingering people to atone for Cavil. Maybe he would have believed me if we hadn't been in the middle of an argument at the time. He said there was no way anyone of your moral convictions could be a cylon. I'd already broken his heart enough, I couldn't bring myself to convince him otherwise."

"He upset with you?" Felix asked.

"No. He's upset with himself, for believing in you. He's not the only one."

Felix nodded. If what he'd seen from Dee was any indication, he knew that everyone must be struggling with it. "Yeah, I think I understand."

Sharon glared at him. "You don't have any idea."

 

Lt. Hoshi set down the aluminum chair next to his cot. "I brought this for you. It might not be very comfortable, but it'd be good to sit someplace else for a while. Keep you from getting bed sores."

"Thank you," said Felix. The lieutenant sat down on the cot and Felix moved to the chair. He was right, it wasn't very comfortable, especially compared to the chair he'd had on Colonial One, but it was nice to be able to sit on something that wasn't the bed or floor. It was even nicer to know that Lt. Hoshi had thought to bring it to him. The chair was a luxury, and Felix knew it. He didn't think he'd be getting any luxuries this soon.

Felix leaned back against the chair, something he hadn't been able to do in his cot, not without moving it, at least. "Before you start interrogating me, can I ask you something?"

Lt. Hoshi seemed a bit perplexed by the request. "Um, sure, I guess."

"Why hasn't the Admiral been back down here?" Felix asked, thinking back to what Sharon had mentioned. "He didn't wait this long to come talk to Sharon."

Lt. Hoshi took a deep breath before he started talking. "When Admiral Cain found out that Gina was a cylon, she only went down to the brig to once the entire time the cylon was held there." Felix flinched at the mention of Gina. It wasn't something he liked to be reminded of, as it could just have easily been him in the same situation. "They were, well, you know, but the point is that the Admiral trusted her completely. So much so that she gave Gina access to the ship's codes. It's the same for Adama. He trusted you with his ship."

Felix paused. He hadn't thought of it in that way before. Lt. Hoshi had a point. Adama loved his ship more than anything. And he'd entrusted nearly all of it to Felix. Raptor pilots were one thing, Officer of the Watch was another. It was no surprise Adama couldn't bring himself to see Felix.

"I imagine things are pretty tense in CIC right now. Gods, I'd hate to have to be Officer of the Watch," said Felix. He'd heard Captain Kelly had filled in for him when he was planetside on New Caprica. To have to man that post, knowing that the last person who'd stood there, someone he'd worked with every day, turned out to be one of the enemy…

"It's getting less tense now that it's been a while. And yeah, it's a bitch having to fill in for a cylon."

Shit. He knew Lt. Hoshi was a CIC officer, but he had no idea what post he'd taken on _Galactica_. He hadn't suspected it was his. "You're the-"

"Yeah. I'd always wanted the position, but I didn't imagine it'd happen like this. Every time anyone looks at me, gives me an order, it's like they just see a cylon in my place." Lt. Hoshi looked down at his hands, fidgeting like he had the first time Felix had seen him.

"I'm sorry," said Felix. He reached out to put a hand on Lt. Hoshi's arm, but stopped himself. That might be a bit beyond his comfort zone, and Felix really didn't want to ruin the bit of a relationship he'd managed to establish with the officer. He pulled his hand back.

"Can I ask you something as well?" asked Lt. Hoshi, who was still looking down in his lap, but had stopped fidgeting. "It's got nothing to do with what I'm supposed to let the Admiral know, just something I've been curious about."

"Uh, sure," said Felix hesitantly. He hoped it wasn't anything too personal. He liked the lieutenant well enough, but he didn't want to spill the details of his life. The officer already sounded upset with him enough.

Lt. Hoshi looked up and back towards Felix. "If cylons are made of circuitry, how is it they're able to look, function, even bleed like humans?"

A technical question had probably been last on the list of questions Felix was expecting. Felix studied Hoshi to make sure that that was what the lieutenant really wanted to know. The look on his face was one of genuine curiousity. A technology geek, just like him. Felix briefly wondered if Lt. Hoshi knew just how much of a replacement Lt. Gaeta he was serving as.

"We're not made of circuitry. We're mostly human in form, just a few circuits for data storage in the spinal cord and the brain. All our programming gets transmitted from there through the blood stream," Felix explained.

"Wait, so," said Lt. Hoshi, his entire body perking up, "cylons have figured out how to transmit data through a liquid?"

"Exactly. I'm not sure entirely how it works, and I don't think any of the other humanoid cylons do either. But it's how data consoles work, establishing a link through the liquid goo into the pores in the skin. Cylons use it to communicate with the ship's computers, and I think it's part of how resurrection works as well. I just wish they'd have found a better liquid for the data consoles, because the goo they use is disgusting."

"That's amazing!" exclaimed Hoshi.

Felix blinked, wondering if he'd heard right. A human, admitting to being interested in cylon technology? When the cylons were humanity's sworn enemy? "You think it's…amazing?" he asked.

"Why not? The things you could do with that kind of technology! The colonies never got that far in their innovation."

Felix cocked an eyebrow at him. "But it's cylon technology."

"Well, it's the not the technology that's evil, is it?" Hoshi asked.

Felix wondered if Hoshi was right. The cylons could have been programmed to be a friendly race, allies to humanity, if they'd wanted to. The technology itself could have been used for anything. When Felix pondered it, liquid transmission could have been used to establish communication lines through oceans, or send messages more accurately into the brain for medical purposes. The cylons weren't sadistic, manipulative, and vengeful because they had a few wires inside them. They were sadistic, manipulative, and vengeful because someone had designed, programmed, or taught them to be that way. If it was the technology that made the cylons the way they were, then the only way to change would be to be reoutfitted. Nobody had rearranged his DNA or replaced his wires. Felix had changed on his own. He still had all the phsyical parts and all the capabilities of any cylon. But he'd broken away from their mentality. No matter what anyone might judge him to be, his race didn't define who he was. It was possible to be a cylon and not be evil. Felix Gaeta wasn't evil.

A hand passed in front of his face. "Felix? Are you alright?"

Felix mentally shook himself and saw that Hoshi was eyeing him curiously. "Yeah. I'm alright. More alright than I've been in a while, actually."

Hoshi stood up from the cot. "Well, just in case you decide to zone out again, I'll leave you alone."

Hoshi made his way for the door, but Felix stopped him before he could. "Wait. Lieutenant?" Felix asked. "If you think it's not the technology that's evil, do you think that I'm…"

"I used to," said Hoshi. "Before I ever came down here. But now… Not all humans are good people. I don't see why the reverse can't be said for cylons."

Not all cylons are bad people. It was the one thing he'd never expected any human to say. He'd known it was true, somewhere deep down. It was about time he truly let himself believe it.


	9. Chapter 9

The lights had gone out twenty minutes ago and the room was getting very hot. Felix had stripped down to his undergarments and was still sweating profusely. The guard outside his door was starting to sag and Felix knew the heat must be getting to him, too. The controls must have been acting up. The ship was old, and he'd had to deal with mishaps like this all the time.

Felix heard the door to his cell open, and not one, but two figures step in. Judging by the bulk of their forms, they were both marines. That was unusual. The marines never came into his cell, even when they were escorting someone there. Something was wrong. The cylons must have shown up.

Felix dressed quickly, his clothes sticking to him in the process. One of the marines shined a flashlight at him as he pulled his shirt over his head, and the marines approached. "Hold still," they ordered, and Felix did as they asked. One of the marines slapped a pair of handcuffs over his wrists while the other fastened them with a chain around his waist. Then one of the guards clamped a metal ring around his neck. It scathed him, leaving a burn on his neck that felt even more uncomfortable when the sweat started to build beneath the ring. The guards hooked in rods into each side, then shoved him forward, the neck band nearly choking him in the process. He left like a dog, collar around his neck, being led around on a leash. He'd gotten so used to Lt. Hoshi treating him as almost human that he'd forgotten what it was like to be thought of as a thing.

The guards were rough with the rods, causing the metal band to crash against his neck over and over. His breath hitched every time it hit his throat. As they led him down the halls, Felix could see that it was only parts of the ship that were overheating and unlit. A good portion of this deck was affected, but the next one up was not. People glared at him as they passed. It reminded him of New Caprica, whenever he'd walk through the streets of the settlement. Only this time, Felix had no idea what he was doing.

The further he was shoved along, Felix realized exactly where they were headed. He knew the halls of _Galactica_ too well, especially the ones that led to the room they were going to. The CIC. Felix tried to stop, to get the marines to turn back, but they only shoved him harder. The CIC was the last place on this ship he wanted to be. He couldn't bear to see the faces of his former coworkers, to stand in the middle of the room while they glared at him. Adama was sure to be there, and Dee, and maybe even Colonel Tigh, and he couldn't face up to any of them, not yet.

The temperature problem hadn't affected CIC, and the lights were all still on. Approximately fourty faces stared at him as he appeared in the doorway. All but one looked as if they wanted him thrown out the airlock. Felix took a moment to look around CIC. Colonel Tigh was nowhere to be seen, as were a few others he knew had died on New Caprica, though the room was now populated with a slew of _Pegasus_ officers. Across the CIC, Felix could see Dee flinch at her station, looking like she wanted to crawl inside herself. Helo went to give her a hug. Felix looked away.

The marines led Felix to the main floor of the CIC, right to where his post had been. It seemed like a cruel joke, until he realized that he was being led to the one person who wasn't shooting him death glares. "Cylons sent us a virus. Sharon's in the air, so we need you to get rid of it," Lt. Hoshi told him, while indicating to the marines to unlock his handcuffs and remove the rods from his neck band. He wished they'd take off the band itself, since it wasn't like it was preventing him from going anywhere, and it was making breathing feel like a chore.

Lt. Hoshi produced a pocket knife- the one that had belonged to Dee's father. Felix stared down at it. It was the same knife he'd seen Sharon use when she sent the raiders a virus. He remembered watching in horror as she cut into her palm and inserted the cable he'd handed her. He also recalled how much she indicated it hurt. Now he was going to have to do the same thing.

"You want to, or should I?" asked Lt. Hoshi.

"I'll do it," said Felix. If he was going to have to endure pain for this, he might as well be able to control it himself. "You can get me the wire to the console."

Felix hesitated, looking down at the knife. The blade had gotten dull over time, indicating that this was going to hurt more than if it had been sharp. Felix thought back to that time with Sharon again. That had been the moment, though early in her time here, that Sharon had proved to _Galactica_ that she was on their side. Now was Felix's chance to do the same.

Felix cut his palm open with one swift swipe. He cried out in pain, but was glad he didn't have endure a slow cut. His palm stung as the blood trickled down to his fingers. Lt. Hoshi handed him the cable, its wires live and glowing a faint blue color. Carefully Felix slid the cable into the slit in his palm. Felix winced, it hurt a lot more than cutting himself did, and the metal casing of the cable was grating against his wrist bones. Just a little further in and he could have a-

Woah.

Swimming in the data stream had never been like this. _Galactica_'s computer systems were something else entirely. The languages, the codes, the programming, was all so different than anything in the data stream. It was so foreign yet so familiar at the same time. Felix had thought he knew every bit of this ship before. Looking at _Galactica_ from the inside, literally becoming a part of the ship, Felix realized there was a whole other side to her he'd overlooked. He felt connected, not like an appliance, but in an ephemeral sense, in a way he hadn't realized he wanted to feel. In an instant, Felix knew exactly why Adama loved this ship so much. If only the Old Man could see it like this.

The virus was easy to find. It stuck out like a Sagitarron at a military gala, clearly out of place. It was a dark stain on _Galactica_'s brand of beauty, and Felix couldn't rid the computer of it fast enough. "Temperature is going back down throughout the ship. All decks reporting that the lights are back on. We've taken care of it, sir," Felix heard someone say far off in the distance. Swimming in the data stream had been like an orgasm, but this…

"Lieutenant," the Admiral ordered to someone, causing Felix to snap out of his trance. The Admiral directed the officer he'd been calling to obtain some bandages. Felix began to remove the cable from his arm. He tried not to scream in pain, as taking it out seemed to hurt far worse than putting it in. He felt the metal scrape his bones again as he pulled slowly. One last gentle tug and Felix was free from immediate pain, though it still lingered strongly. A large drop of blood hit the floor from where it dripped off the end of the cable. The blue glow now had a hint of red.

"Thank you," whispered Lt. Hoshi as he walked by before circling the CIC for an all-systems check.

"Let's hope that's the last virus we have to deal with," Adama said, and looked at Felix. He could tell the Admiral was still not pleased with his presence on board, but the angry glare had softened a bit.

It was then that Felix saw an opportunity to protect this ship, in a way only he could. "Sir, if I may-"

All eyes in CIC snapped to him. Felix froze momentarily. He'd never liked being the center of attention. Especially when everyone was looking at him like he was out of his mind. "I can install a firewall on _Galactica_'s systems. Then you won't have to worry about another virus."

"Yeah? Like that last one you installed?" Captain Kelly snapped.

"I know what I'm doing now. The cylons wouldn't be able to penetrate it if they tried," replied Felix.

Any sympathy the Admiral had started to show before disappeared in an instant. "I'll think about it," he growled. Without a moment's hesitation, the guards shackled Felix up and led him back to his cell.

 

Felix sat in his chair with his head in his hands. His best chance to prove he was reliable and he'd blown it. All because he had been so eager to help. Sort of like the detention lists. Maybe it was better not to help at all, just let the Colonials forget about him and move on with their lives, instead of trying to fit back in to a place he didn't belong.

Felix heard a soft tapping on the glass. More than likely, it was Sharon. She'd probably heard about what happened in CIC, hell, the whole ship probably knew by now, and had come to tell him what an idiot he was. Felix rubbed his face and got up to go speak to her.

Felix stopped when he saw who was on the other side of the glass. It wasn't Sharon. It was Dee.

Felix approached the glass and picked up the phone cautiously, seeing if Dee was going to talk to him or if she was going to run like she had last time. It surprised him to see her pick up the phone.

Dee looked down through the glass, towards Felix's shoes rather than his face. "I know it probably doesn't mean much," she said, her voice shaking, "but thank you."

Felix smiled. 'It means everything,' he wanted to say. 'Coming from you, it means everything.' But he knew she wasn't ready to hear it. She had spoken to him though. It was a start. He knew she would be okay in time.

"All I did was prevent _Galactica_ from becoming a floating sauna," he said instead. "It really wasn't much."

"They were targeting the water tank controls. The lower decks just got hit as well."

That explained why they hadn't waited for Sharon to come back from flying. Once the pressurized water tanks got hot enough, _Galactica_ would have been blown to bits.

Dee raised her gaze and looked Felix directly in the eyes. She didn't run, but as she held her gaze, tears began to form in her eyes. 'Just leave,' thought Felix. 'You didn't have to do this. You're not ready. You didn't have to put yourself through this.'

"Why?" she sobbed.

Felix didn't need her to extrapolate, he knew what she meant. _Why you? Why did my best friend have to be a cylon? Why, after so many years? Why couldn't have it been anyone else?_ Felix wished he had an answer.

So he just said nothing. He just watched her walk out the door with tears running down her face. As the door clanged shut, a tear from his own cheek dropped to the floor.


	10. Chapter 10

"You're an idiot!"

"I know."

"I had them bring you up so you could show the Admiral that you're willing to help us. I did that to make things easier for you, you know that?! Half the crew still wants you dead and I thought I could make it a little safer for you on this ship and you had to pull that?! For frak's sake, you couldn't have kept your mouth shut?!"

"Only half the crew? I'd say my odds are better already."

To say that Lt. Hoshi was pissed might be an understatement. Felix had had the feeling he would be. He knew it was Hoshi's idea to use him as soon as he'd stepped in CIC. Adama wouldn't have put that much trust in him if he didn't have an officer assuring him it was the right decision.

"You want to know what the worst part is?" Hoshi shouted. Felix thought that maybe Hoshi finally understood why the rest of the crew was angry with him.

"The worst part is that I believe you, that you do want to install a working firewall. I don't understand why I trust you. I know you're a cylon, yet I believe you anyway."

"What?" asked Felix, shocked that even after screwing things up in CIC, Lt. Hoshi still sided with him.

"You did remove that virus," explained Hoshi. "And you didn't say anything to Dee, when you easily could have crushed her with a few choice words."

Felix bolted up from his chair. "How the frak do you know about that?!"

"She told me about it afterwards. I don't get why she came to see you, after last time," said Hoshi.

Felix took a step towards the lieutenant. "Last time?" he asked incredulously. "You know about that too?"

"She didn't just randomly show up here, Felix. I told her that you'd asked about her."

Felix rushed forward and grabbed Hoshi by the jacket collar. He saw the marine pull out his tranquilizer gun, but he didn't care. It was his turn to be angry now. "Why the frak did you do that?! Do you know how upset she was?! How close she was with me before she found out I was a cylon?"

"Yeah, I do!" Hoshi shouted at him. "We became friends on _Pegasus_ while her _best friend_ was planetside on New Caprica. Whose shoulder do you think she ended up crying on when she heard about you? It certainly wasn't that fat, lazy, pathetic excuse for a Commander her husband turned out to be!"

Felix slammed Lt. Hoshi against the wall. "Then you should've known better!" he shouted, before taking his hands off the officer and backing away.

The marine burst in the door with his tranquilizer gun cocked and ready. Lt. Hoshi held up a hand before he get a shot off. "Don't. I'm fine, and we're done here. Just leave him be." Felix had a feeling that this was the end of his easy interrogation sessions. He'd just proven himself violent, just like the Colonials thought all cylons were. Somehow, he didn't care.

Lt. Hoshi straightened his uniform and glared at Felix. He started to follow the marine out of the cell, but stopped at the doorway. "I suppose I should thank you for that," he said, not turning around. Felix cocked an eyebrow at him, not grasping why anyone would thank a cylon for roughing them up.

Lt. Hoshi turned back around. "I understand why I trust you now. If you were just another cylon, you wouldn't have given a damn what I said to Dee."

 

"You're an idiot."

"I know, Lt. Hoshi already told me." Sharon had come to ream him out for blowing it in CIC.

"Getting rid of a virus was how I got Adama to trust me," she said.

"Well, I'm not you," Felix replied through the phone.

"No, but you're the closest thing to me on this ship. I'm a reference point for them when it comes to you. If you do what I did, they'll know they can trust you. You could have gotten them to start relying on you, but instead you…suggest programming a firewall? Not to mention shoving Lt. Hoshi against the wall when you kept insisting on it."

That's what Hoshi had told everyone? Why would he have lied about their fight? To keep Dee from finding out?

"I know," said Felix. "I just wanted to help, is all. I didn't mean to screw things up."

"You'll be lucky if they ever let you out of this cell again." Sharon paused and let out a sigh. "I know you're on our side Felix, but you have to remember how pissed off everyone is at you. They waited twenty minutes to come get you out of here, because no one was sure they wanted you in CIC."

"What's everyone saying now?" Felix asked.

"Nothing. Everyone from CIC has been really quiet. And considering how some of them gossip, that's really saying something."

Felix hung his head, looking down at his shoes. "Because they trusted in me. Right. I know."

Felix heard her put a hand to the glass. He looked up to see the sympathy showing in her eyes. "Just do what I did Felix. It's the only way you'll ever get out of here."

She'd almost hung up the phone when Felix stopped her. "No," he said aburptly.

Sharon quickly put the phone back to her ear, a perplexed look coming over her face. "What?" she asked indignantly.

"I'm not you, Sharon. I have to do this my own way. I want them to trust me for who I am, not for who you are," said Felix.

"And how are you going to do that?"

"I don't know. But I will."

 

The marines were back again. They'd come with the handcuffs and choker, meaning they were taking Felix somewhere. Felix wondered where he could possibly be wanted. There wasn't a chance he was being brought back to CIC, not now. Maybe this was part of a new interrogation method. Or maybe Adama and Roslin had changed their minds about airlocking him.

The marines shackled Felix up and shoved him out of his cell. They kept their distance as they held the poles to his neck restraint, but still pushed him forward with the same force they had last time. Everyone they passed stopped and stared at him. Some whispered amongst themselves. Felix tried to pick up on what they were saying. He only managed to catch a few words here and there. "…of the brig already?" "What is that…" "…couldn't possibly…" It was clear no one else knew what was going on either.

After they'd climbed to the deck above, the marines led Felix not towards CIC, but in the completely opposite direction. Felix was puzzled. There was nothing in that direction except meeting rooms, senior official's quarters, and-

"Baltar's lab?" Felix asked as the marines stopped in front of the door.

"Don't ask questions, cylon," snapped one of the marines. They opened the hatch and led Felix in. Standing next to the cylon detector was Lieutenant Hoshi, arms crossed, and looking rather stern.

"Leave him here," he ordered, nodding at the marines. The marines took out the rods to his neck restraint and left, leaving Felix still locked up standing in the room. Once the hatch had shut, Lt. Hoshi stepped away from the computer desk and removed the handcuffs and neck restraint from Felix.

Felix exhaled as his neck was freed. He paused to look around the room. It was just as unkempt as he remembered it, Baltar's scribbles spread over desks everywhere, dirty test tubes on the counter, and in one corner of the room, a sharp, neatly arranged space that Felix called his own. It was surreal being back here. Here was one of his favorite places on the ship, learning about genetics and technology, and talking about science with someone who understood it even better than he did. But this was also where he'd carried out the parts of his mission that were the set up for New Caprica. Felix wasn't sure whether he had been more human or more cylon in this room. Perhaps it was the only place where he'd been equal parts both.

"The computer's not hooked up to anything, but I thought we could test your firewall here. You can write the program and we can have Sharon try and send viruses through it," Lt. Hoshi explained.

Felix was stunned. "The Admiral agreed to this?"

"The XO did. If he hasn't talked to the Admiral, he will eventually. I'll leave that to him."

Felix's jaw dropped. "_Colonel Tigh_ agreed to this?"

Lt. Hoshi laughed. "Gods no. I doubt he even knows. Helo is XO now. You didn't notice that the Colonel wasn't in CIC when you were there?

"I did, I just didn't think…" Felix sputtered.

"He's still holed up in his quarters," said the Lieutenant. "New Caprica still has him pretty messed up, I guess."

Felix nodded. "I understand. I was there, on New Caprica. It messed everybody up."

"Even you?" Lt. Hoshi asked.

"I found out I was a cylon on New Caprica. So, yeah, even me," said Felix.

An awkward silence fell over the room. Felix could tell Lt. Hoshi wanted to ask him something, but was too scared to ask. But Felix didn't know what exactly. Lt. Hoshi always ended up asking questions that weren't the ones Felix would have expected, so even if his instinct told him it was something to do with New Caprica, he could have been wrong. So he didn't pry. The two of them just stood there until Lt. Hoshi gestured towards the computer.

"You can start anytime you like. I'll be here to supervise, since they won't allow you to be left alone. I know we got into that argument yesterday, so I hope you're okay having me around," he said.

"You're not furious with me? After I shoved you into a wall?" Felix asked.

"No. I told you, I trust you. Besides," said Hoshi, grinning from ear to ear. "I want to see what a cylon firewall program looks like."

Felix smiled.


	11. Chapter 11

Five days later, Felix believed he finally had an impenetrable firewall. He almost wished it had taken longer. The past five days had been the best five days he'd had in a long time. He was still confined to one room for all his time, but it was different in the lab. The lab actually had furnishings, more than a bed and chair anyway, but more importantly, it was familiar. When he was there, it was almost as if Felix was a member of the crew again. Baltar's lab was the closest thing to home Felix had.

Thankfully, the programming had taken a lot longer than Felix had expected. He probably would have been afforded only three or four days in here, had Lt. Hoshi not interrupted him with numerous questions. The lieutenant was genuinely curious about cylon computer programming. Sharon had told him once, before Felix knew what he was, that she needed everyone to forget she was a cylon in order to ever be accepted on this ship. However, Lt. Hoshi definitely hadn't forgetten that he was a cylon, and not only did he not seem bothered by it, it fascinated him. The more Felix talked about it, he had to admit to himself, the technological capabilities of cylons really were fascinating. Human, cylon, either way, Felix had a passion for science. It was nice to be able to talk to with someone who shared that passion.

Somwhere along the line, Lt. Hoshi's questions had stimulated actual conversations, Felix asking the officer a few questions of his own. In the middle of the fourth day, they'd lost all sense of propriety, lapsing into a lengthy discussion about the specifications of Mercury class battlestars and what sort of upgrades would benefit _Galactica_ if they'd had the time and parts. By the end of the fifth day, Felix had gained something he hadn't had in a long time: a friend.

"It's done," Felix said, taking the lollipop out of his mouth. Lt. Hoshi had supposedly won a portion of Helo's secret stash in a triad game the previous night, and had brought them to the lab to let Felix take his pick.

Lt. Hoshi peered over Felix's shoulder. "Is it? I should probably call for Lt. Agathon then," he said, then went to the room's transmitter to call CIC. When he'd hung up, he came to where Felix sat, twirling his half-gone lollipop in his fingers. "If this works, and the Admiral consents, we'll have you install this in the computers in CIC."

"It's probably going to need updating, once the cylons start catching on," said Felix.

"I figured. Should keep you busy. I imagine it beats being in that cell all day," said Lt. Hoshi.

"Yeah," sighed Felix, staring at the computer monitor. If he hadn't explained practically the entire program to Lt. Hoshi, he'd probably be able to configure a last minute glitch that would keep him here another day. The CIC wasn't his cell, but it wasn't as comfortable as this. Felix stuck the lollipop back in his mouth.

Before Felix could come up with anything else to say, the hatch door opened. "XO and Lt. Agathon entering," Felix heard Helo report. Helo and Sharon stepped into the room.

Lt. Hoshi saluted and said to Helo, "It's ready to be tested, Sir."

Helo looked at Lt. Hoshi and laughed. "Hoshi, you bastard." The Lieutenant had saluted Helo with the hand holding the lollipop. Helo stopped laughing, hoewever, the second he turned to Felix. Helo cleared his throat and quickly diverted his attention to his wife. "Sharon, are you ready?"

"Yes," she replied. Sharon stepped forward and stood next to Felix at the computer. "Do you have a live circuit? I'll have to send the virus that way."

Felix grabbed the wire that had been cut a while earlier and handed the end to Sharon. Out of the corner of his eye, Felix saw Lt. Hoshi pass Helo a lollipop, probably as an attempt to ease the tension.

Sharon produced a pocket knife and began to cut into her hand. She cut slow, as if she needed to feel the pain. Felix winced as he watched her insert the cable into her arm, recalling the feeling when he'd done it himself. All eyes were on Sharon as she sunk deep into concentration, throwing virus after virus at the firewall. She strained trying to get through, small beads of sweat beginning to run down her face. After nearly twenty minutes, she stopped, regained focus of the room and pulled the cable from her arm.

"I threw everything I've got at it," she said, exhausted. "Nothing got through. That firewall is solid."

"It works?" asked Helo.

Sharon nodded. "It works."

Felix beamed. As he looked around the room, he could see everyone else smiling too. It was an even better feeling than Felix had had on New Caprica helping the resistance. This time, he wouldn't have to use violence to help humanity. And this time, he didn't have to keep it secret.

Helo clasped a hand over Felix's shoulder. "Guess Sharon's not alone out there," he said.

As Helo and Sharon left, Lt. Hoshi went to call for the marines, the smile fading from his face. "You want another lollipop?" he asked, holding out the stash which had gotten noticeably smaller.

"No thanks," replied Felix, nervously watching the door and hoping the marines would take their time getting there.

"Helo's going to run it by the Admiral, see if we can start getting this installed tomorrow," said the Lieutenant. "Computers should be safe to network then, but I doubt he'll let me do it."

"On this ship? Not a chance," Felix said, laughing. "Thank you Lieutenant. For letting me do this. It means a lot, to be able to help this ship."

"Louis."

"What?"

Lt. Hoshi held out his hand. "It's Louis. You don't have to keep calling me Lieutenant all the time."

Felix returned the gesture, firmly shaking the Lieutenant's hand. "Thank you, Louis," he said with a smile. "I'll see you in the CIC tomorrow."

 

The icy stares were no less frigid this time around in the CIC. The only one who seemed less averse to his presence was Helo. The Admiral wasn't on deck; Felix wondered if that had something to do with him. Felix glanced up at Dee to see how she was doing, but she was buried in her work, talking to someone on the wireless.

The marines led him to one of the back edges of the room, visible to hardly anyone but those down on the center floor. He didn't know why they wanted him to start on the backup systems, but it was nice to have only a few people be able to glare at him.

Lt. Hoshi came up to greet him as the marines were removing his chains. "The Admiral isn't comfortable having you work on the primary systems just yet. You'll start here and we'll assess what needs to come next. Let me know when you're done. You gonna be alright up here?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," replied Felix.

"So how's it like being back in CIC?" Louis asked.

"It's…" said Felix, thinking about just how he wanted to answer that. "Different. Not at all like it used to be. Are you sure you should be asking that here?" Felix asked, looking to see if anyone had reacted.

"Helo's got watch on DRADIS. He knows I'm up here." That hadn't been what Felix meant, but the Lieutenant didn't seem phased by anyone around.

Helo definitely was, and apparently the people nearby weren't the only ones staring. "Alright everyone, he's just here to do his job, just like the rest of you should be doing. He's not gonna hurt anyone. Back to work before the Admiral comes back and sees you all just standing around." It was bizarre to see Helo acting as the XO. He definitely had a commanding presence about him, but he also liked to be everyone's best friend, exactly the opposite of Colonel Tigh. There were a number of people Felix would have picked for a replacement XO before Helo. It was another reminder that this was not the same CIC Felix had once been a part of.

The officer at the station next to him kept looking over at him like something was going to happen, but otherwise surprisingly, no one bothered him. If not for the obviously tense atmosphere, it would have felt much like normal. Felix realized that this might be the closest he was ever going to get.

Felix was engrossed in programming code when Captain Kelly came up behind him. "Why don't you have a cable stuck up your arm?" he asked.

Felix started, not having seen Captain Kelly before he spoke, then attempted to quickly regain his composure. "This can be done manually," said Felix, not looking away from his screen, afraid to see what sort of look Kelly was giving him. "Besides, cutting your hand open _hurts_."

"You think you can just walk back here and get your job back? You of all cylons should be the last one they let in CIC," he growled.

"Yeah. I know," Felix said under his breath.

"What'd you say?" said Kelly, leaning on the console and in towards Felix. Felix could feel the heat of his breath on his ear.

"I said, I know," Felix repeated. "And I know I'm not getting my job back. But I owe this fleet a lot, and I'm not talking about sparing me the airlock."

"What the frak is that supposed to mean?" Kelly asked.

"Captain," Felix heard, and both his and Kelly's heads turned to the person who'd spoken. Dee. "The Admiral wants you down at the launch tubes for testing." Kelly stood up to leave, but Dee paused for a moment. The glance she cast at Felix told him she'd heard what he said and perhaps, unlike Kelly, had understood. As Dee returned to her station, it looked as if he had gotten to her, in a positive way at last. It was all Felix could hope for.


	12. Chapter 12

When Admiral Adama returned to the CIC the next day, he barely even acknowledged Felix. When he did, Felix could easily tell that the idea of having a cylon in the CIC still wasn't sitting well with him. Adama was only putting up with Felix for the sake of his ship. Felix knew the Admiral trusted Helo, and if Helo had told him that he'd found a way to protect the ship, the Admiral wouldn't say no. The Old Man was always able to put aside his personal feelings for _Galactica_, even though it showed when he wasn't agreeable to the idea.

The next few days were fairly uneventful. Felix could tell by the demeanor in the room that the cylons hadn't attacked in a while. People still leered at him, but no one bothered him. Felix wondered if Helo had anything to do with that. It almost seemed as if Felix would finish the entire CIC without incident. Then one particular pilot walked into the CIC.

"Admiral, we've got a problem," said Starbuck as she burst into the CIC. The Admiral motioned for Helo to take his post, and as he did, Starback chanced to look around the room.

"You have got to be frakking me!" she shouted, loud enough for the entire CIC to hear. Felix shrunk into his seat, wishing he could disappear behind his console.

Helo bounded away from his station to hold off Starbuck. "Kara," he said, attempting to get her to back off.

"Who let that thing in the CIC?" she shouted, pointing at Felix.

Helo looked like he was about to say something, but someone else cut in first. "I did." All eyes snapped to the Admiral and his sudden declaration. Felix sat up in his chair. "He's proven useful so far and I want to keep it that way."

The Admiral was sticking up for him? He could have easily let Helo shoulder the responsibility, especially since Helo had brought the idea to the Old Man in the first place. Plus, Starbuck was like family to the Old Man. Instead, he was defending Felix. A cylon.

The rest of the CIC looked just as confused. Starbuck, knowing better than to stand down the Admiral, backed out of the room in huff. The CIC erupted into whispers, but one stern glare from the Admiral was enough to stop it all at once. As he surveyed the crew to make sure they were all going back to work, the Admiral didn't avoid looking at Felix like he usually did. It had been brief, but for a split second, the Old Man had made direct eye contact. He said nothing, but for Felix, he didn't need to. Felix had seen that look before. And it wasn't a look he gave cylons.

 

Lt. Hoshi came to his cell that evening. The Lieutenant hadn't been by in a couple days; as Felix spent long hours in the CIC, there wasn't time for interrogations. However, the look on his face now indicated that Lt. Hoshi wasn't here to interrogate Felix.

"Lieutenant?" Felix inquired.

"Louis, please." He produced a packet of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket and offered it to Felix. "I heard you smoke."

"Only when I'm nervous," Felix replied. He took a cigarette and lit it.

The taste of tobacco felt strange on his lips. He hadn't had a cigarette since New Caprica. Felix had smoked a lot when he worked in Gaius' office. Oddly, Felix couldn't recall smoking at all after he'd started feeding information to the resistance.

"As religious as you've told me cylons are, I'm surprised they don't subscribe to that old-fashioned 'the body is a temple' belief," said Louis, watching Felix take a drag.

Felix snorted, causing him to cough on the smoke he was exhaling. "They can go through as many bodies as they want, why should they?"

Louis shrugged. "Good point."

It was then that Felix realized that Louis wasn't smoking, hadn't even touched the box. Felix tossed his cigarette to the floor and stamped it out with his shoe. "So what brings you here?" he asked.

Louis sat up straight and looked Felix in the eye. "Just a little shaken up from what happened in the CIC earlier. Figured I'd come here."

That struck Felix as odd. First that Louis would have been affected by the near altercation, and second that he would choose to come here of all places. Who would come sit in a cell with a cylon to _relax_?

"Why'd it bother you?" asked Felix. "I mean, not to be patronizing or anything…"

"Gods," he sighed. "Do you know how much shit I get for sticking up for you? Whatever happened, I knew I was going to be caught up in it. I'm glad the Admiral stepped in."

"Yeah, me too," added Felix. He wanted to ask Louis about that, if he had any idea what the Admiral's real opinion on him was, but looking at Louis, he could tell now wasn't a good time. "Why stick up for me?" he asked instead. "You could say whatever you wanted and nobody'd be none the wiser, no one ever comes down here. Why put up with their shit when you don't have to?"

"Sometimes you just have to do what's right," Louis stated. Felix knew exactly how that felt.

Silence fell over the room. A minute passed, then two, without either one of them saying a word. Next to him, Felix caught the Lieutenant fidgeting with his hands, like he always did when he couldn't think of what to say. Instinctively, Felix reached out and put an arm around Louis' shoulder. Louis didn't tense up like Felix thought he might, but instead relaxed and leaned into Felix's supportive embrace. Felix had the sudden urge to hug him, but didn't. This was enough for now.

"If I showed my face in the rec room now, I'm afraid Starbuck would have my head," said Louis, finally.

Felix laughed. "So you're hiding in a prison cell? That's sad Louis."

Louis playfully shoved Felix away. "Shut up."

 

Despite their exchanged glances, the Admiral had gone back to ignoring Felix in the CIC. However, Felix had bigger things on his mind than what the Admiral was thinking. Midway through the day, Felix had to outfit Dee's station.

Felix approached the communications console timidly. As Dee was on the end of the row, he hadn't been sitting next to her before he had to work her station. Dee was looking down at some paper work when Felix came up beside her. He swallowed nervously. "Um, hi," he said.

Dee grabbed the papers from the console and looked up at him, avoiding direct eye contact. "Hi. Go ahead," she indicated, gesturing toward the computer. She adjusted her wireless headset, which Louis had set up to run on another computer in the meantime, and stepped out of the way. They both remained silent as Felix started working, though he could hear her papers rustling occassionally behind him.

Felix attempted to continue working, but it was proving nearly impossible. The tension hung over him like a heavy cloud. Unable to bear the silence any longer, Felix swileved in his chair. "Dee-"

"Felix-" she said at the same time. Then, "sorry."

"No, you go ahead. What were you going to say?" said Felix, letting her take the lead. He still wasn't sure what he wanted to say to her anyway.

"Were you programmed to be friends with me?" Dee asked.

"No," stated Felix. "I was programmed to take interest in Dr. Baltar."

"That explains a lot," replied Dee.

Felix fought the urge to laugh in agreement. It really did, looking back. He should have been able to see through Gaius long before New Caprica. But reminiscing over Dr. Baltar was not why he was talking with Dee, so he continued. "I chose to be friends with you."

"I wish you hadn't," she said.

Felix turned back to the console. That hurt worse than all the punches Tigh and Starbuck had thrown at him. In that moment, he almost wished he had never set foot back on _Galactica_.

Another minute passed, with Felix typing furiously, so that he could finish faster and move on to another console. Of course, he'd only be moving to the one next to hers, so it wouldn't have made much of a difference. Then Dee spoke up again.

"I didn't mean it like that." Felix spun back around and saw that she had put down her work completely. "I just meant…I don't know. I thought you were someone I could trust. I did trust you. I trusted a cylon."

"You weren't the only one Dee," said Felix. "I hurt a lot of people. And I'm sorry. But the friendships I made on this ship were real. Even though I was a sleeper agent at the time, I don't regret becoming friends with anyone. I don't think I'd be here installing firewalls if I hadn't had friends. More importantly, I don't regret being _your_ friend, Dee. I'm just sorry I hurt you in the process." Even if Dee told him to frak off at this point, Felix was glad he said it. He was glad he'd had friends. It was because of them that he knew what it meant to be a good person. And while it pained him to have hurt so many people, he would rather have done that than be striving for humanity's destruction, without a conscience at all.

Dee didn't tell him to frak off. She didn't even look away. For the first time since he'd been back to the ship, Dee managed to look him straight in the eye and not break into tears or run in the opposite direction. "That's why it hurts, Felix. I don't regret being friends with you either."

Even though they were in the middle of CIC, Felix stood from his chair and hugged her. To his astonsishment, she didn't fight it. He even could have sworn she hugged him back.


	13. Chapter 13

"Hey you two," said Helo from the floor, likely about to chastise them for breaking decorum. "Act like respectable officers," he finished, with a large grin on his face. It was obvious that Helo didn't care what they were up to, as long as they were okay with each other again.

Dee was called away by duty before Felix could reflect on what had happened, but when she returned, things no longer seemed as tense or awkward. And when Felix finished with her console and rerouted her headset back to her computer, she actually managed to smile at him.

The next day, Felix finished outfitting all the computers in the CIC, and it was back to his cell and regular interrogations, if they could still be called that, with Louis. As Felix had learned, there hadn't been a single cylon sighting since he'd sent the virus, and his firewall was so far proving useless. Even his interrogations weren't much help to the Fleet anymore, as he was running out of things he could think to tell them. Perhaps if he had been with the cylons before New Caprica, he would have been of more help, but that wasn't a past Felix wanted to envision.

Felix heard a rapping on the glass. Sharon was here, and it had been a while since he'd seen her. She flying raptors and he in the CIC, the two of them never crossed paths. Pilots and bridge staff rarely did, even while off duty, let alone one of them being locked up. Felix got up to pick up the phone.

"Hey," she said. "Heard your firewall isn't being put to use right now. Got any other ideas to get yourself out of here, or do you want me help?"

Felix tapped his fingers idly on the glass. "No. I don't want to seem overeager, after nearly blowing it last time. The cylons are bound to show up eventually."

"Felix," sighed Sharon. "Just…prepare to be in there a long time, okay? I spent almost two years in that cell. It doesn't get any easier."

"I know," replied Felix.

Sharon must have been off duty, despite being in uniform, since she stayed to keep Felix company for a little while longer. Felix suspected it was partly out of sympathy, but he enjoyed getting to know Sharon. He'd never really had the chance before. He'd known Boomer pretty well, but whatever their appearance indicated, Sharon and Boomer were completely different people. The obvious divergence was that Boomer had rebuked Helo on multiple occassions whereas Sharon had fallen for him right away, but their differences ran a lot deeper than that. Sharon had a sense of maturity that Boomer seemed to be missing. Though Boomer had supposedly lost her parents, it didn't have as real of an effect on her as losing her child had on Sharon.

Unfortunately for Felix, the entire crew of _Galactica_ had already gotten to know him. He couldn't prove to them that he wasn't the old Felix, because he was the old Felix. It was the other Sevens, the ones no one had ever truly spoken with, who were all something else. That, he realized, was why he needed to gain his freedom his way, not Sharon's. He didn't need to prove he was different, he needed to prove he was the same.

Sharon knew he was. Dee perhaps, was starting to know. He just needed to find a way to make the Admiral see it. That was how he would get out of his cage. Despite Sharon's offer, Felix Gaeta was not an aggressive self-defender. Felix Gaeta acted when he saw opportunity. He knew the opportunity would present itself. If he had to wait here for two years, so be it. It might not get easier, but easy had never been what mattered anyway.

 

Perhaps on one account, Sharon had been wrong. It had already gotten easier. There were people who didn't hate him. People spoke to him without a fist ending up in his face afterwords. He was getting out of his cell and even allowed access to CIC computers. None of it he had imagined possible on his first night back on _Galactica_.

Louis was here again. Felix really didn't know what else he had to tell the lieutenant. Perhaps he could dig something out of his memory bank, but since the cylons hadn't been spotted in weeks, he didn't know how much good it would do.

"I know what you're thinking," said Louis, before Felix even had the chance to say hello. "I'm not here to ask you for any information. I wanted to bring you something, help pass the time. I spent three days in the brig once and was bored out of my mind, I can't imagine being down here as long as you have."

Felix cocked an eyebrow. "You? Spent three days in the brig? For what?"

Louis blushed. "It's uh…it's a long story. I'll tell you later. Maybe. Anyway, I brought these for you." Louis held out a stack of books. There were only three, but it was more than Felix had seen in months.

"I know you'll probably finish them all in a day, but they were all I had. I could get you into the fleet book trade if you wanted. I probably should have traded these ones a long time ago, but they're my personal collection of favorites, and I'm sort of unwilling to part with them."

"But…" stammered Felix, awestruck by the gesture. He never let _anyone_ borrow his favorite books, no matter who was asking. "You're letting me read them."

"Well, I know I'm definitely getting them back from you," said Louis, grinning.

Felix took a moment to look at the titles. _Searider Falcon_. _20,000 Clicks Under the Sea_. And-

"This is one of your favorites too?" Felix asked, staring at the title.

_Earth: The Final Frontier_. His copy was likely still lying in the dust on New Caprica somewhere. He had no idea anyone else in the fleet owned one. He could probably recite the book from memory now, but it wasn't the same not being able to read those words on a page. Just to hold a copy in his hands again was exhilirating.

"Oh of course. I love that book!" exclaimed Louis, his face lighting up. "Can you imagine a planet where they speak a hundred different languages?"

"I know! The author has such a vivid imagination, it's incredible. What about that part where a giant war erupts over borders actually _on_ the planet?" And what had started as a simple gesture suddenly became an hour long conversation. Despite having read it numerous times, Felix had never discussed the book with anyone before. The way Louis interpreted some of the passages were ways he had never looked at the book before, and talking about it made him excited to read it all over again.

"Oh frak," exclaimed Louis quite some time later, after looking at his watch. "I had no idea we'd been talking that long. I hate to cut it short, it's been so interesting…"

"You can come back," Felix replied. "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. I'll finish one of these other ones, and you'll have to come down and discuss it with me."

"That'd be great," said Louis, smiling. The thought passed briefly through Felix's mind that Louis had a nice smile. "You're a great guy Felix. I wish everybody could see that."

"I um," said Felix, suddenly feeling completely dumbstruck after being loquacious for the last hour. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

It didn't hit him until quite sometime later that "despite being a cylon" hadn't even been an implied part of Louis' statement.

 

The marines were here, and they were in a hurry. Felix was halfway through _Searider Falcon_ when they burst through the door and ordered him up, causing him to lose his place in the book. He stood up quickly and held out his wrists to accommodate a set of chains, but the marines had other plans. "No time," one of them said, grabbing his wrist directly and dragging him out the door.

Whatever was happening must have been an emergency. The marines were practically running down the halls, and hadn't bothered with any restraints at all. Then Felix heard a familiar call, unfamiliar as it sounded in a voice other than his own. "Action stations, action stations. Set condition One throughout the ship. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill." The cylons had shown up.

He was quickly led to the CIC and directly to the floor. Were it not for the marine escorts, it would have felt like he was back on duty again. Felix silently reminded himself that being on duty again wasn't going to happen. According to DRADIS, one baseship had jumped into orbit and was launching Raiders. The rest of the fleet was in the process of jumping away, leaving _Galactica_ to fend off the incoming forces. Dots appearing on screen indicated that Vipers were already being launched.

Felix took a spot near the center console, but not too close. The Admiral gave no indication of making him move somewhere else, so he figured it best to stay put and act only when he was given an order.

"Mr. Hoshi," said the Admiral. "Are the cables ready?"

"Yes sir," replied Louis.

"Good. Network those computers." The entire CIC froze. The beeping DRADIS was the only indicator that time was still ticking. Felix had never heard the room dead silent before. "Do it!" Adama ordered.

"Aye sir," replied Louis. He sent Felix a questioning glance, but all Felix could do was shrug.

The Admiral focused again on DRADIS, commandingly oblivious to the reactions of everyone in the CIC. "Let's see how this thing works."

Louis connected the cables, and a complex web of pathways appeared on screen. "What the frak is that?" asked Captain Kelly.

"That," Felix said proudly, "is the firewall."

Most of the Vipers had now been deployed and were heading off Raiders. The friendly and enemy blips began interweaving on DRADIS, a tangle Felix had never been able to follow completely. A few enemy blips disappeared from the screen, and that's when Felix noticed the activity on the visual representation of the firewall. A yellow light, indicating cylon interference, was blinking on the starting end of the pathways. He continued to watch as some time passed, he wasn't even sure how long, but the blinking never moved. They weren't able to penetrate it. Felix beamed.

"Mr. Hoshi," ordered the Admiral. "Launch nuclear weapons."

"Aye sir." With a speed he had never seen out of _Galactica_'s system, two nuclear weapons were deployed. The cylons, still trying to get past the first barrier of Felix's firewall, were too distracted to fend off the sudden nuclear attack being launched at them. Cylons did not fare well when on the defensive. Felix wished he could have seen the explosion.

Cheers erupted in the CIC, and Felix could hear the pilots whooping over the comm. Thanks to his firewall, _Galactica_ had taken on a baseship and won. Felix couldn't have been happier than he was at that moment.

"Mr. Hoshi," Adama cut through the commotion to his tactical officer. "See what else you can get Mr. Gaeta to do for us."

On second thought, maybe he could have.


	14. Chapter 14

Felix was so worked up, so positively elated, that he couldn't sit still once they put him back in his cell. He knew Louis would be here shortly to congratulate him, which only made him even more restless. When he heard the hatch beyond the cell open, he practically sprang with anticipation. However, it wasn't Louis who appeared outside the cell. It was Dee. And she looked happy to see him.

"Dee," Felix said into the phone, still unable to wipe the smile from his face. "You weren't who I was expecting."

"Louis had something he needed to take care of first," replied Dee. "That was who you were expecting, wasn't it?"

Felix chuckled. "Regained the ability to read my mind, have you?"

Dee laughed, then paused for a moment to ponder something. "You are the same Felix I knew, aren't you?" she asked. "When I saw that your firewall worked, I…I couldn't believe I hadn't thought it would work before. I should've known it would, because that's just who you are. You're still you."

"I'm still me," affirmed Felix. He felt like crying tears of joy. Dee believed in him again.

"I didn't lose my best friend after all," said Dee, smiling brightly. "That's what you were trying to prove all this time, wasn't it? The whole time you've been back on this ship. Not that you're another cylon ally, just that you're you."

_Yes!_ Felix wanted to shout. She _got_ it. Dee understood that he just wanted to be Felix Gaeta. Perhaps she wasn't the first person to see it, but she was the first person to say it. He hadn't realized it before, but it was exactly what he'd been yearning to hear. "I can't believe you get me so well," he said.

"Hey," said Dee. "That's just who _I_ am."

 

After the success of the firewall, Felix's next assignment was to work on mapping star charts. It was a lot less exciting than enabling a nuclear strike, but it felt more like normal duty. Louis, it turned out, didn't have much of an affinity for astronomy and was more than willing to pass the job back to Felix. There were other projects too, small things that needed cylon input when Sharon wasn't around. Gradually Felix was becoming more useful, and the Admiral was giving him more access to the ship's systems. But what excited Felix most of all were whispers going around that he might be let out of his cell soon. True they were only whispers now, but so had been a lot of what he was already doing.

The one area Felix hadn't gained much standing in was the ship's social activity. Louis and Sharon visited fairly often, and Helo was down on occasion. Even Dee was coming by now, asking all the questions she'd been afraid to before, as well as bringing him all the ship's gossip. But the rest of _Galactica_ made no effort to speak with him, and made it clear they didn't intend to. Most of the time, Felix didn't mind. It was just days like this, days where it seemed everyone in the fleet was off doing something together, that Felix wished he could join them again.

"You're going where?" Felix asked.

"Shipwide boxing tournament," said Sharon, practically bouncing as she mentioned it.

"I hope you're not going to be in the ring," replied Felix, seriously fearing for the sanity of anyone who wanted to box a cylon. He'd seen Eights throw punches before. It wasn't pretty.

"Gods no. I'm just looking forward to watching everyone else beat the crap out of each other," she said, grinning. It amused Felix to see a little of the "bloodthirsty cylon" come out in Sharon, especially since she spent so much energy fighting that image. He just wished he could see what she was like when the sparring actually took place.

Felix sighed. "I wish I could be there. I like to watch people lose money on each other more than the fighting, but…"

"Not exactly an option this time, huh?" Sharon asked.

"Not really, no."

"I could stay here, if you wanted me to," suggested Sharon.

"No," replied Felix vehemently. "Go. Have fun. I wouldn't want you to miss it on account of me. Besides, who else is going to want to ring out Helo's sweat?"

"Very funny Gaeta," said Sharon, rolling her eyes. "I, um. I could come back later, if you could use the company."

"Send Louis," replied Felix. "He'll get bored before it's over."

"I will," said Sharon. She was about to hang up the phone when she paused and brought it back to her ear. "Are you sure you're alright down here missing out on all this? I know how lonely it gets down here, Felix."

"They wouldn't want me there anyway," replied Felix. "Go. Have fun. And don't forget to tell Louis to come by later." He knew he couldn't, that the majority of the crew wouldn't exactly welcome him, but Felix wished he could be there. He might not have cared for boxing, but he desperately missed the camraderie.

 

After what felt like, and probably was, hours, Louis walked into the room, sporting a large, painful looking black eye. "Louis, what happened to you?" Felix asked, surprised that Louis would have taken part in any of the action.

"I was stupid enough to challenge Lee to a bout in the ring."

Felix winced. "Dear gods, why would you do something like that?"

"I wanted to kick his ass for destroying my ship," Louis replied frankly.

"Knowing you were going to lose?" asked Felix. "No offense Louis, but you're really not the type to take on Lee Adama and win."

Louis flopped down on Felix's cot and rubbed his knuckles, which looked a little raw. Either a bad tape job, or Louis had been really pissed. "I love my ship, Felix. The _Pegasus_ was more home to me than the Colonies were. And Lee Adama destroys it like it's just some…scrap of metal. You guys had Earth to believe in, but for us, it was just our ship. _Pegasus_, that was all I had left. I would've given anything for that ship. You know what that's like?"

"Yeah," replied Felix, "I know exactly what that's like. I felt the same way about _Galactica_. Besides the base ship, it's the only home I've ever had, and it's certainly the only place that ever felt like a home. Everyone I know and love is here, and I feel more like myself here. I'd give anything for my ship too. That's why I fed information to the resistance on New Caprica. It would have been safer to side with the cylons, but I didn't want to see everything my ship fought so hard for destroyed."

Louis froze. "You what?"

"Fed information to the resistance on New Caprica," Felix repeated. "I knew they'd be more successful if they knew what the best targets were, and I had access to all of that information. I also programmed glitches into the jamming frequencies so they could get in touch with _Galactica_. I honestly never thought I'd end up back here after New Caprica, but I'm glad I did."

"Holy frak," said Louis, becoming even more slack-jawed than before. "Felix…Roslin and Adama have been looking for the inside source for _months_! That was you?"

Felix nodded unsurely, wondering what exactly he had just gotten himself into.

"Holy frak. You saved the entire human race. Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"You think anyone would have believed me?" asked Felix.

"I believe you. Gods, you're not just one of the good guys, you're a frakking hero!" Louis exclaimed.

"I'm not a hero," Felix argued. He'd only done what he felt was right.

"Bullshit, you're not. Most of the people in this fleet owe you their lives, Felix. And they repay you by locking you in a cell? I'm going to get you out of here," said Louis, jumping from the bed.

"How?" asked Felix, wondering just how Louis intended to bust him out when the rest of the fleet wasn't nearly as acclimated to his presence as Louis was.

"By letting everyone know what you've really done for us. I knew you were a good person, Felix, but I had no idea…" With that, Louis dashed out of the cell. Felix tried calling after him, but he was already out the door. The news was out now, there was no turning back.

 

Twenty minutes later, a crowd had arrived in his cell. Felix stood as Admiral Adama, President Roslin, Lieutenant Agathon, Chief Tyrol, and the Quorum's Tauron delegate filtered in. President Roslin wasted no time in getting straight to the point. "Mr. Gaeta, is what Lt. Hoshi has reported to us true?"

"Yes," stated Felix, without even knowing exactly what they had learned. He was certain, however, that Louis had made good on his promise to tell everyone exactly what Felix had said.

"A cylon as the inside source for the resistance? It seems highly unbelievable to me," said the delegate.

Roslin gave Felix a look that indicated he better speak up. Whether Admiral Adama believed him or not was of little consequence to the government. So Felix, knowing better than to cross Roslin, started explaining. "I couldn't give information to anyone directly. They wouldn't have trusted it. So I set up a dead drop, by means of a note I left in the medical tent. The drop, it was in the garbage dump. I set up a signal…a dog bowl. A yellow dog bowl. It meant there was a message in the garbage dump."

Chief Tyrol staggered back and ran his hands through his hair. Felix was glad they had brought him, since he knew the Chief was the only one who could affirm his story. Judging by the Chief's reaction, he hadn't had any inkling before, but realized full well now that Felix had been his source. "Oh my g- He's telling the truth. There was a yellow dog bowl, I used it. He's the only other one who would have known about it. I thought our source must have died during the exodus, and that's why they never came forward. It makes sense, Admiral. He's our source, he's the reason we're all back on this ship."

The look on the Admiral's face was one of definite approval. He did believe Felix, and if Felix read into it right, he was proud. He'd served the fleet well, like he had sworn to do when he'd joined the crew of _Galactica_. And now he had regained the Admiral's respect because of it.

"This fleet owes you a great debt of gratitude Mr. Gaeta," said President Roslin. "You saved our species. I don't know that we can thank you enough for that."

The Quorum delegate was still unconvinced. "Why would a cylon help the resistance against their own race?"

There were a hundred ways Felix could have answered that, all the reasons that kept him going on that planet, as well as here on _Galactica_. Felix went with the first thing that came to mind. "Because I believe in doing what's right."

It was a simple answer, but it was enough to convince the President of the Colonies. Roslin turned to address the Tauron delegate. "I believe you have the final piece for the Truth and Reconciliation Committee's report. Since I want that report completed, I suggest you start writing this down." The delegate didn't look entirely pleased, but pulled out a pad of paper anyway and started writing.

"Lt. Agathon," said the Admiral, "see if you can find a place for Mr. Gaeta to stay."

"Yes sir," replied Sharon with a salute. She flashed Felix a smile once the Admiral was no longer looking.

Admiral Adama then turned to address Felix. "I believe this man deserves to be set free." He'd had the feeling when the Admiral had entered the room that this was coming, but to hear those words made it real. He was getting out of his cell. Felix couldn't help but smile.

"If you don't mind me saying so Admiral," added President Roslin. "I believe this man deserves to be in uniform."


	15. Chapter 15

Louis smoothed out the sleeves on Felix's uniform. "It looks good on you," he said.

"Yeah?" asked Felix.

"Yeah, navy's a nice color for you," said Louis. Felix smacked him lightly on the arm.

Felix thought Louis was about to congratulate him next. He definitely hadn't anticipated Louis leaning in and planting a quick kiss on his lips. "What?" Louis asked once he saw Felix wide-eyed. "You think just because you're a cylon, I'm not allowed to be interested in you? I thought we were past that whole different species thing." Felix decided to respond by pulling him back for another kiss.

"Gods Felix, fresh out of jail and you're making moves already?" Felix heard Dee say as she came to join the two of them.

"What can I say, it gets awful lonely in that cell," replied Felix.

"Yeah, you're definitely Felix Gaeta," said Dee, rolling her eyes.

"So how's it feel being back in uniform?" Louis asked.

Felix adjusted his collar and fingered the junior lieutenant pins, just to make sure they were really there. "I didn't think it would ever happen. It feels…good."

"You'll probably need these," said Dee, stretching out her right hand and turning it over. A set of dog tags dangled from her fingers. They were worn and weathered, not new and shiny. His old dog tags.

"Where did you get these?" Felix asked, taking them from her. He checked the inscription- they were definitely his.

"I snatched them before the marines started going through your locker. It felt like they were throwing you away, and I couldn't bear to lose you entirely," Dee explained.

Felix ran his fingers over the engraving again- L. Gaeta , typo still unaltered, serial number 372565- and put the tags around his neck. "Thank you Dee," he said, and gave her a hug.

"You ready?" asked Louis.

Felix looked down as his uniform once more. It felt strange to be wearing it again, in the way that an old forgotten sweater felt strange after years of being buried in the closet. Yet at the same time, it couldn't have felt more right. "Yeah. I'm ready."

 

The ceremony was small, smaller than usual for induction ceremonies. It was certainly different from the last time Felix had done this. Doc Cottle greeted him as he entered the room. As a Major, he was the highest ranking attending official under the Admiral, the acting master of ceremonies, and tradition dictated that he be the one to introduce the inductees.

"Major Cottle presenting Felix Gaeta," he announced. "Had a feeling you were up to something down there. Thanks for saving my ass, son," he murmured privately to Felix.

Felix took a brief moment to look around the room. President Roslin was there in official capacity, but the rest of the attendees were there to support him: Louis, Dee, Helo, and Sharon. There may not have been many people there, but the ones who were, were his friends. True friends, people who saw him as something more than a cylon or a military asset. People who saw him as Felix Gaeta.

Admiral Adama held out the Articles of Colonization in front of him. Felix put his left hand over the book. "Raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, Felix Gaeta."

"I, Felix Gaeta," repeated Felix, still hardly believing that his real name was coming from the lips of the Admiral.

The Admiral continued. "Do now pledge my faith and my loyalty."

"Do now pledge my faith and my loyalty."

"To the protection of the twelve colonies of Kobol."

"To the protection of the twelve colonies of Kobol."

"And will carry out the lawful orders of my superiors."

"And will carry out the lawful orders of my superiors."

Felix felt a surge of emotion just then, as he knew the line that was about to come next. Felix had said it once years ago, but wasn't aware then of its implications. He'd mean it now, as he'd never meant it before, because now he understood what it truly meant, to him and to the people of the human race.

"As an officer in the Colonial Fleet," said Admiral Adama.

"As an officer in the Colonial Fleet." Felix felt a swell of pride. He'd earned this. And this time, he knew he wouldn't let his ship down.

The Admiral extended his hand. "Congratulations Lieutenant Gaeta," he said. "It's good to have you back."

"It's good to be back, sir," Felix replied, shaking the Admiral's hand.

"Although," added the Admiral. "Maybe that's the wrong turn of phrase. From what I understand, you may have never left us in the first place."

Felix beamed. He wasn't sure if it was possible to be happier than he was at this moment. "No sir," he said. "I never did."


End file.
